Morgen Young, consulting historian and owner of Alder, holds an M.A. in Public History. Her work focuses on historical research, writing, exhibit development, digital history, oral history, and historic preservation.

Alder works on numerous projects relating to architectural history, including National Register of Historic Places nominations, Special Assessment applications, published building histories, and other research services.

National Register Nomination: The Brick House Beautiful

The unique English Cottage house, known locally as the Brick House Beautiful, was built between 1922-1923 as a model home for the Standard Brick & Tile Company of Portland, Oregon. The house showcased nearly the entire catalogue of Standard Brick & Tile materials, with the exterior facades boasting impressive brickwork, laid in a multitude of patterns, shades and textures. The rich exterior details were carried into the interior, with textured plastered walls, tiled floors and an impressive brick and tile fireplace. The home also served as an exhibition of “ideal brick hollow wall” construction, a building technique first introduced in the United States in 1921.

Designed by Otis J. Fitch in the upper middle class neighborhood of Laurelhurst, the Brick House Beautiful became the center of a major advertising campaign undertaken by Standard Brick & Tile. Construction progress was reported weekly in the Oregonian newspaper and architects, contractors and prospective buyers were encouraged to visit the site and watch the house rise. The Brick House Beautiful opened to the public in 1923, one of the first model homes in Oregon to encourage major public inspection and exhibition. Thousands toured the house as Standard Brick continued to promote the benefits of masonry over lumber construction.

National Register Nomination: Rose City Golf Clubhouse

The Rose City Golf Clubhouse was constructed in Portland between 1931 and 1932. Designed by architect Herbert A. Angell, the building was constructed by local contractor B. T. Allyn. The English Cottage style clubhouse was built for the Rose City Golf Course, the second municipal course established in the state of Oregon. Golf was first played in Oregon in 1888, when four Scotsman laid out temporary holes in sand dunes near Gearhart. A nine hole course opened at Gearhart in 1892, becoming the first course established in Oregon. In 1896 Portland's Waverly Golf Club became the first golf club in the state. Exclusive private golf clubs continued to grow across Oregon in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1918, the Eastmoreland Golf Course became the first municipal course to open in Oregon, making a game once reserved for the elite accessible to the public. The Rose City Golf Course opened its first nine holes in 1923, becoming the second municipal course in the state. The course's second nine holes opened in 1927. The Rose City Golf Clubhouse opened to the public in 1932. It is the only known surviving work of Herbert Angell.

House History Book: The Martin C. Thompson House

The Martin C. Thompson House was constructed in 1921 in Portland’s Alameda neighborhood. Victor and Barbara Russell of Yamhill County purchased the lot in the Olmstead Park plat in 1914. The Russells never developed the land and in 1921 it was sold to Martin and Cathenka Thompson. The Thompsons contracted Norwegian builder Knut J. Clifton to design and construct a one-and-a-half story frame house for them on the lot. Clifton built other residences in Alameda, including his own home on NE Mason Street.

House History Book: The Kathryn Stein Buck House

The Kathryn Stein Buck was constructed in 1911 in Alameda's Olmstead Park. Plans for the new residence were first announced on December 30, 1910. Kathryn Stein, a young Portland resident, was designing her own home, to be constructed by her father, Ernest Stein. This was to be the home for Miss Stein and her fiancé Bernard Carsten Buck, following their wedding in the spring of 1911. Kathryn Stein designed all of the elements of the home, preparing the architectural drawings herself. The plans were accepted by the city building inspector and construction began in January 1911.